review: harry potter and the cursed child

(I received this as a review copy from the publisher, but it had no impact on my honest review).
Synopsis from Goodreads:

The Eighth Story. Nineteen Years Later.
Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, a new play by Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London’s West End on July 30, 2016.
It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.
While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places. 

I tried to keep my expectations low for this, because i wasn't sure if i would enjoy reading a script book of a play as much as an actual novel. I did have several issues with the plot of Cursed Child, but overall i did enjoy it and I'm rating it 4 out of 5 stars!

The script book definitely could not capture all the emotion and description that probably had been delivered in the actual performance, but for a 330-paged script it did well enough to deliver the plot and personality of the characters. It only took me 2 days to finish since it was full of script, and it wasn't difficult to get used to the script writing style.

I didn't quite like the general plot of the story. It was definitely clever to centre it all around time traveling and a new prophecy, but it still didn't feel quite like something JK Rowling would write if she had continued the series by herself. I couldn't quite grasp the idea of the Cursed Child existing, because it did not seem in line with the original Harry Potter series(SPOILER: Voldemort and Bellatrix having a child?? What?? Wouldn't someone have noticed the 9-month pregnancy??). 

It was also kinda strange to see Hermione as Minister for Magic and Harry as the head of Magical Law Enforcement. I guess it's just generally strange to read about their lives outside of Hogwarts, but it's also great to know what all the main characters are doing now. I wish we could have seen more of the Weasleys!

I absolutely love all of the main characters! Scorpius is such an entertaining kid, i found myself actually laughing at some of his jokes. Draco was great too, i love how he gets to say more and how much he had developed. And Ron! Ron is Hilarious Ron as usual, and i loved the Ron/Hermione moments in this! Harry's troubles in being a good father to Albus really broke my heart. It did make a lot of sense that he wouldn't know exactly how to approach his second son, who had turned out differently compared to the rest of his kids. And then there's the touching conversation between Dumbledores' portrait and Harry -- that was quite emotional. 

It's a little hard for me to take HP and the Cursed Child seriously as a continuing story of the original series, but i still enjoyed reading it as a possible one. I definitely hope to be able to see the play in real life one day. I can't imagine how magical it would be with all the magical effects and the emotional performance by the actors.